The Weapon
by prepare4trouble
Summary: A people claim to once have controlled a weapon that could destroy the Wraith. Now they need help to find it again, and they won't take no for an answer. COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

TITLE: The Weapon

AUTHOR: Prepare4trouble

ARCHIVE: Ask, but I doubt I'll say no

RATING: PG

SPOILERS: None yet

DISCLAIMER: As much as I wish I did, I own nothing in this story but my own characters and the plot.

NOTES: My first Atlantis fic, so I'd appreciate being told if it sucks. I haven't seen that many episodes yet; so sorry if I made any mistakes or anyone seems a bit out of character. I'll try to do better next time.

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**The Weapon**

Chapter 1

It was dark when they arrived. That was something Sheppard hadn't yet managed to get used to. He knew that it was impossible for all the planets they visited to experience day and night at the same time as Atlantis. It would have taken a lot of unnecessary planning to put a gate in the right place on every world to ensure the same amount of daylight on each side, and even then, a day one some planets was longer than on others. Still, there was something incomparably weird about going through the 'gate and suddenly finding that it is the middle of the night. Instant jet lag. Sheppard didn't like it. Normal jet lag was bad enough. They had lucked out this time though, the sun seemed to be coming up, just rising above the horizon and giving the planet an almost blue tinge. This was his favourite time of the day. Back on earth even as a kid he had enjoyed waking early to watch the sun rise. It had been a while now since he had had the chance. He missed it.

There was no time to appreciate the view now though. They needed make sure the area was secure, and if there was anyone around, introduce themselves before they ran off screaming. In this galaxy, an unexpected activation of the Stargate was just as likely to be a Wraith attack as a friendly visit. More likely, probably. They didn't want people fleeing in terror before they had a chance to introduce themselves.

As it happened, there was no one to introduce themselves too. Not nearby at least. The blue dawn light revealed an empty space, a huge expanse covered with nothing but grass, weeds and what might, once upon a time have been crops. But they had been left untended for so long different plants had become mixed together, making it impossible for any farmer to get a decent harvest. This was what farmland might look like if it had been ignored for years.

Not far away there were trees. Starting out thinly, they looked as though they became denser the further in you went, becoming a dark, sinister looking forest. At least sinister looking in the half light of the early morning.

The forest was too far away to e a hiding place for something nasty waiting to jump out at them. Aside from the trees, the land was flat and boring. If there was a threat lurking nearby, it was invisible. How boring. Not that he wanted to be attacked, but he had hoped to find something a little more interesting than a field. It looked a nice enough place for a day out, but not much else. A glance at the rest of his team's faces showed that they were thinking the same thing. He chose a direction parallel to the edge of the forest. "His way looks as good as any other. Tell me if you see anything worth stopping for," he said.

McKay snorted derisively. The landscape wasn't exactly what he would call fascinating. He wasn't interested in trees and grass, he wanted to see… "A city!"

"What?" asked Sheppard.

"There, straight ahead. A city."

The others all looked straight ahead and to their surprise there was indeed what looked like the tops of tall buildings, just visible from behind large cluster of trees.

"How about that,?" said Sheppard, "A city. Well spotted. Looks like there is someone here after all."

"Perhaps," murmured Teyla.

John turned around to face her, "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Only that it is unusual for crops to be left to go wild for so long," she said, "especially so close to the homes of the people who rely on them."

John nodded, "Okay, we'll go and check it out, see if anyone still lives there, then report back. Maybe we could bring a few more teams back with us if there's no one home and it looks like there might be something useful."

Ford squinted through the trees as they walked. Now that Teyla mentioned it, the city did look empty. One of the towers even looked at though the top half had fallen down. He couldn't be sure until the got closer, but it definitely didn't look right.

As they approached the outskirts of the city it became apparent that it was deserted, or at least no longer functional. It looked as though no one had set foot there in over a hundred years. The buildings were made of brick and stone, but they were crumbling. Windows that had been made of glass had long since broken or been smashed, and there was a terrible stillness about the place. A ghost town. Sheppard silently wondered to himself what had done this, and how many people had died here.

They walked in silence, every step seeming to echo loudly around the deserted streets as they made crunching footprints in the dust of the crumbled buildings that lay underfoot. Each member of the team was acutely aware of the sound of his or her own breathing. There was nothing here to deaden the sounds they made. No birdsong, no rustling of trees as there had been outside of the city, even the wind seemed to blow more quietly, gently, as though it was showing concern not to further disturb this dead city. Even McKay, who usually seemed oblivious to others' moods seemed to be affected.

Sheppard almost felt as though it would be wrong to break the silence as he spoke, "We'll start with this building," he said, indicating a small, square shaped two storey building to their left, "it looks as good as any other. Stick to the ground floor for now, until we're sure it's not going to fall down."

"Fall down?" echoed McKay, a slight squeak to his voice, "If you think it might fall down, maybe we should pick another building."

"Relax, McKay. I don't think it's going to fall down. It looks pretty sound, all I'm saying is be careful, okay?"

McKay nodded and held his breath as he followed Sheppard into the building. The space where the door used to be was an open, rectangular gap. The door had either fallen off, been removed or rotted away long ago. He rapped on the edge of the wall as he went through, ready to back off if the smallest fragment fell away. To his relief, nothing happened.

The dust from the street had blown inside, covering everything with a thin layer of grey. Inside, there was a narrow corridor with several rooms at either side and at the end a flight of stairs. "Spread out," said Sheppard, "look for anything interesting and report back if you find something."

"What counts as interesting?" asked Ford.

Sheppard shrugged, "As this point, anything that isn't dust."

At the word 'dust,' Teyla sneezed loudly and McKay jumped at the unexpected sound. He visibly blushed, smoothed down his clothes and said, "Right, lets get this over with. The sooner we find out there's nothing here, the sooner we can leave."

The downstairs rooms were completely empty and filled with nothing but dust and broken glass, so unoptimistically they moved carefully, one at a time, up the stairs at the end of the corridor. Sheppard went first, making it safely to the top before letting anyone follow him. The stairs were made of stone, not wood, so they couldn't have been weakened by rot and being inside had been spared the seemingly superficial damage that the elements had caused to the outside of the buildings, but he couldn't risk the stairs breaking under their weight. After all, they had no idea how long ago the city was deserted, or whether whatever had happened had caused structural damage to the buildings.

Considering the time and effort that they had put into the simple act of walking up a short flight of stairs, McKay was disappointed to find that the second floor looked remarkably similar to the first. There was less dust here than below, but again he walked into room after empty room. It wasn't surprising, considering how long the city appeared to have been abandoned. He was no expert in architecture, but the city looked old. Maybe not old enough that anything organic that had been left behind would have rotted and turned to dust, but old enough that they might have begun to decay. Still, it was surprising that there was nothing left behind. No plastics, no metals. Those things wouldn't have decayed in the same way that wood or cloth would. Still, maybe it was the wrong building. This one could have been full of things that wouldn't stand the test of time. It could even have been a brand new building that no one was using yet. Somewhere in the city there had to be evidence that someone used to live there. He had been hoping to find a computer. You could tell a lot about a people by their computers.

He had almost given up when he came to the last room on the floor. The last room in the building. He could tell that there was a difference straight away. The door was still there. Not intact, but the remains of what had used to be a wooden door still hung from three hinges at the side of the door frame. He sidestepped through the entrance, aware of the sharp looking shards of wood that hung pointing as him, and entered the room. Disappointingly, given the promising start, the final room was as empty as all the others. He turned to leave, then he saw it. In the corner of the room, at the side nearest the door, hidden from the view of anyone as they walk inside, there was something on the floor.

It was half covered in the dust, which gathered much more deeply in the corners of the rooms, but it was small, black and rectangular in shape. Or maybe it was dark grey. He couldn't make out the colour because of the coating of dust. He hurried forward and picked up the object, wiped it on his jacket to clear away the dust and looked at his find. He had no idea what it was. There was a small screen at the top, and the rest was covered in buttons. If he had seen it on Earth, he would have assumed it was a calculator, the strangest looking calculator he had ever seen. He pushed a few buttons at random, not expecting anything to happen. The device let out a squeal, and McKay almost dropped it in surprise. Keeping a tighter hold on it now, he saw that a row of lights had lit up on the top, then as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. The squeal faded away to nothing as though the power had run out.

He hurried to the door and shouted, "I think I found something."

Sheppard, Ford and Teyla looked at the metallic object in McKay's hand. "What is it?" asked Ford eventually.

McKay shrugged, "I don't know yet," he said, "but whatever it is, it has power. Or at least it did. I pressed some buttons like this…" Again, he pressed buttons at random, and again the device let out a painful sounding squeal. It faded much more quickly this time, and he barely had enough time to turn it around and show the others the row of lights at the top, before they went out.

"Huh," said Sheppard, he took the device from McKay and jabbed a finger at the buttons himself. Nothing happened. "You must have used the last of the power," he theorised. "And you've no idea what it is?"

"No, nothing has happened in the last five seconds that has made me realise what it is."

"Fine, just checking." He felt at the weight of the object and again tried to make it respond, but again it ignored him. The power was dead. "Well, we can…" he stopped suddenly, spinning around to face the door, weapon at the ready, "anyone else hear that?" he whispered.

"Hear what?" whispered McKay, looking worried.

"A sneeze," Teyla informed him quietly.

As she spoke, they all heard the sound of footsteps in the dust. Someone was running away. Sheppard nodded to Ford, who half leapt out of the room and chased the spy. Almost as quickly Sheppard followed him still clutching McKay's device. Telya went next and finally McKay, who stepped out of the room just in time to see Ford returning with their spy. He was a boy of no older than fifteen. He wore roughly woven clothes and no shoes. Slung over his back was a bow, with several arrows and a dagger at his belt.

"I'm sorry," he cried as soon as he saw the others, "Please don't kill me! I saw nothing important! I didn't mean to spy, I was just interested. I wanted to now who you were. Please!"

Sheppard felt a stab of sympathy for the terrified boy, "We're not going to hurt you," he assured him, "we just needed to know who was watching us."

Ford let go of the boy's arm. He didn't run away, instead he moved several steps closer to Sheppard, "Thank you," he cried, relief obvious on his face and in his voice. "I mean you no harm." He drew out his blade and placed it on the floor in front of Sheppard, then next to it he lay his four arrows.

"That's not…" Sheppard stopped himself. The boy may be young, but he was carrying potentially deadly, if rather crude weapons. Sheppard would not forcibly disarm someone who appeared to be no threat, but as the boy had offered there was no point in rearming him just yet. "What's your name?" he asked.

"Daynen," he answered.

"Okay Daynen, I'm John." He pointed to each of the team in turn, "This is Ford, Teyla and Dr McKay. We're just here to have a look around. We didn't think anyone lived here. You mind telling us where you came from? Do you live in the city?"

"Doctor McKay," repeated Daynen, as though he was trying out the name.

"Um…" McKay glanced at Sheppard, not sure what to say, "yes?"

"You found this box?" Daynen asked, pointing at the object that Sheppard was still holding.

"Yes, why?"

"And it responded to your touch?"

McKay hesitated, "Well, I pressed the buttons, yes. But anyone could have done that. Why?"

Daynen shook his head, "No matter," he said.

Sheppard looked curiously at the device, and then back to the boy, "Do you live in the city, Daynen?"

The boy shook his head, "A village not far away. I am a guard. I watch at night for invaders from other villagers. When I saw you, I followed you to be sure you were no threat. No one lives in the city. Our people are afraid of it."

"Afraid?"

Daynen nodded, "This place had lain empty since the time of the Great Change. The survivors fled and never returned. Many now believe that death lives here."

"Death lives here?" echoed McKay, "What does that mean?"

"Many people believe that to enter the city is to bring death upon yourself."

"Right, maybe we should get going," said McKay.

Daynen smiled, "It is not true, it is a legend. I have spent many nights here and have come to no harm. The memory of the Great Change has not faded even after many generations. Those that lived in the city were the first to be taken."

"By the Wraith." Teyla said. It was a statement, not a question, but Daynen nodded.

"The people that lived here had created a great weapon," he explained, "it could destroy even the Wraith. It was used against them, and in retribution they returned and took as many as they could. Almost every adult, everyone over my own age, was taken and never seen again. The children left behind could not use the weapon. Nor could they make the city work. It became a place of disease and death, but that was long ago. Now it is only a place."

McKay cleared his throat, "Anyone else starting to feel a little uncomfortable here? Maybe we should get out of the city."

"Not yet," Sheppard told him, "we came to try to find something useful. The first building we come in you pick something up. Whatever it is, it means that there might be something else."

Daynen shook his head, "You will find nothing," he said, "Everything of use was removed long ago.

"Well what about this weapon?" asked Sheppard, "if we can find something about that, we might be able to build one of our own."

"We could search for months and find nothing," Teyla said, "the chances of finding something today are very small."

McKay nodded, "And that's if there is anything to find. If this weapon existed, would the Wraith really leave it or plans to build another one just lying around?"

"No," agreed Sheppard, "probably not. Okay, we'll go back, report to Weir and she can decide whether it's worth bringing more people back to search for this weapon."

Sheppard bent down to pick up Daynen's weapons and handed them back to him, "You're leaving?" asked Daynen.

Sheppard nodded, "We might come back, but for now, yeah."

Daynen resheathed his knife and replaced his arrows, "My village is not far away," he said, "our people would love to meet you, if you have time. The story of the weapon interested you? The village elders know much more than I do."

Sheppard glanced at each member of the team in turn. McKay looked less than enthusiastic, but Ford and Teyla each gave a brief nod. They were happy to go if Sheppard was. McKay was outvoted. "We do have time," Sheppard told Daynen, "and we'd love to meet your people too."


	2. Chapter 2

**The Weapon**

Chapter 2

McKay's feet hurt. So did his head. He hadn't planned to be walking long distances in the blazing sun. It was a stupid mistake really. Lately, whatever he planned the opposite seemed to happen. It was getting to the point where he was considering planning for a major disaster just to increase his chances of having a good day. It seemed that ever since they arrived in the Pegasus Galaxy, some part of him had been hurting.

He knew it was the walking and the heat, combined with the fact that he hadn't slept well the night before that was causing him discomfort, but in the back of his mind, Daynen's words about disease and death kept repeating themselves. Or maybe it was those words that were causing his discomfort. He did tend to worry more than other people about some things, he knew that. He would never admit it, but he knew it. He also knew he was getting a reputation as Atlantis's resident hypochondriac. That, he thought, was going a bit far. Still all he wanted to do was get back to Atlantis, pop to the Infirmary and make sure he hadn't caught something in the city. What he didn't want to do was to be walking to some random village, getting further and further from the gate with each step, just to meet a bunch of people he didn't really want to meet in the first place. Not after being told about disease and death, at least.

They had been walking for almost fifty minutes. Half of the way was through the forest. None of them, even Teyla with her experience of the outdoors could have found their way there again. The village was very well hidden. It had to be. On the way they had swapped stories with Daynen, telling him about their arrival in Atlantis in exchange for information about his way of life. He told them how his village lived in constant rear of attacks from other villages. Theirs was a farming village, they kept animals and grew crops. Others considered themselves to be warriors, and charged in, taking whatever they chose. The well concealed position of the village meant that others found it difficult to find, and when they did, the guards that stood watch day and night could sound the alarm and prepare the people for an attack long before the solders arrived. Unfortunately it provided no shelter from the Wraith.

They stepped out of the forest, directly into the village. There had been no sign that they were near until Daynen led them into a clearing at they saw the buildings.

The village was small. There were no more than fifty small buildings, grouped together in a round cluster. In the centre was a large open space filled with people. They all looked busy.

Daynen led them down a shallow slope into the village. Their presence was detected immediately, as one after another people turned to watch the strangers that the boy was bringing into their hidden village. They had barely taken a few steps when the mood of the people seemed to change and they turned around and watched as a tall man with long, greying hair that had used to be brown, strode purposely towards the group.

"Daynen," he said. His voice was deep and stern, but not unfriendly, "Who are these people. Why have you brought them to our home?"

"I spotted them entering the city and followed them," Daynen explained. He told the story of how he had met the group of strangers and invited them back before they left. As he mentioned McKay's find, Sheppard thought that he saw the man's eyes light up as he looked for the object, now safely stored in Sheppard's pack.

"Very well," said the man after he had heard the story. He turned to Sheppard, who was standing closest to him, "Forgive my suspicion," he said, "we have learned to be wary of strangers. Welcome to our home. I am Jareil, leader of this village. You may stay for as long as you wish." He turned and gestured for them to follow him, "Would you like something to eat?"

"Yes please," said McKay before Sheppard had the chance to answer. They had come all this way, they might as well eat something. Especially since his stomach had started to growl half way to the village.

"Sure," said Sheppard, giving McKay a sideways glare.

They followed Jareil on a short walk through the village, into one of the buildings. Now that they had been accepted by their leader, most of the villagers had lost interest. Only a few watched with suspicion or interest at the strangers were welcomed into Jareil's home. These were the same people that crowded around Daynen as soon at the door of the wooden cottage closed.

The inside of the modest looking cottage was much more inviting that they had expected. The door opened into the main room, which was decorated with an elaborate and colourful woven rug and wall hangings. The centre of the room was filled by a large table, big enough to comfortably seat many more people that the six chairs placed around it suggested. To the left of the door was a hearth, with a fire burning. The heat of the fire made the room warm, but oddly it seemed cooler that outside. There were four windows, two at each side of the room, which had been created by leaving a gap in the wooden wall and attaching a shutter for when the weather was cold. A breeze blew through the room in a constant stream. It worked almost as well as a fan or air conditioning. Though John was glad they had visited on a day when the wind was blowing, or the heat might have been stifling. Directly opposite the door was another door, this one leading to another room of the cottage, presumably where Jareil slept.

Jareil gestured to the table and they sat down while he busied himself serving soup from a large pot that hung above the fire. As they ate he told them the story of his people. The same story that Daynen had told, only more embellished. The descriptions of the city before the Wraith doled out their punishment did seem impressive, but to a man like Jareil who had lived his whole life in a small village with no technology, any city would be impressive. He spoke about the things that his ancestors could do as though it was magic, and his own sense of awe at the life his people had used to lead coloured his descriptions, making it almost impossible to tell what was real.

His knowledge of the weapon was almost as vague as Daynen's. He told how the people had created something that could kill the apparently indestructible Wraith that preyed on their people. He spoke using almost exactly the same words that Daynen used. Most likely the story was told regularly in the village and most people had memorised it word for word. He finished by telling them how the people lived in constant fear of the Wraith, and how stories of the weapon are the only hope that they had.

John told him, as he had Daynen, about their journey to Atlantis and their own run ins with the Wraith. Then, when they had finished eating and talking, he stood up. "Thank you for your hospitality," he said, "but we have to be getting back."

"So soon?" asked Jareil, "you only just arrived. Why not stay a while and speak with my people? Perhaps later we can further discuss the weapon that can destroy our common enemy."

John shook his head. They had to report in before Weir started getting worried and sending out search parties, and it was a long walk back, "Thanks for the offer, but we really have to be getting back. Do you think you could find someone to lead us back? Just to within sight of the city, we can find our own way from there."

"But you will return?"

Sheppard nodded, "Most likely, but it's not up to me. If we do, well keep an eye out for you. Not much chance that we would find your village, but if one of your guards sees us again, tell him to bring us for a visit."

Jareil strode to the door and stood next to it as though he was baring the way. "If you stay a little longer, you can go with a guide into the city and search," As he spoke, his eyes met McKay's pleadingly, "You may find the weapon of our ancestors. Such a thing would be a great benefit to both our peoples."

Since, for whatever reason, the leader of the village had chosen to look to him for help, McKay answered. Most likely he thought the scientist would be more inclined to agree. Of the four of them, he was aware that he looked the least threatening and some people took that as a sign that he was more likely to back down. It was a problem he had had all his life and it hadn't helped that for a long time, until well after he left college, he usually had backed down. He didn't like confrontation. Not any more though. He refused to be the weak link in the team. He shook his head, "Like Major Sheppard says, we'll come back if Dr Weir, our leader, tells us to. If we do, it will be to look for the weapon, so maybe you can tag along if you want."

"I can't see that being a problem," added Sheppard, "but for now we're going back."

Jareil sighed and nodded, "Of course, and if you visit our world again one day, whether the weapon of our forefathers is found or not, I hope you will return to our village and tell more stories of your travels." He opened the door and shouted to Daynen, who had obviously not been far away. He arrived almost immediately.

Daynen nodded to Major Sheppard and smiled at Teyla before looking to his leader.

"Take our visitors to the edge of the forest, within sight of the ctiy," Jareil told him, "be sure that they know the right direction home. Before you go, find Gaedon and ask him to come to me."

"Gaedon?" The boy sounded surprised, worried even.

"I must ask his council. It is nothing that you need worry about. Do as you have been asked."

Daynen nodded and sped away from the cottage to find the other man. Sheppard and the others stepped outside to wait. Jareil's blocking the door with his body had seemed a little to threatening for John's liking, out of the village and away from the man as soon as possible. Jareil had other ideas. "I ask you one more time, stay," he said, "we have somewhere for you to sleep, good food, and in return you can help us."

"We have beds and food already," John told him, "thanks for the offer, but we really have to leave."

As if on cue, Daynen reappeared, "Gaedon will be here soon," he said, before turning to Major Sheppard.

"Right, lead on," said Sheppard, and Daynen led them out of the village.

They made the trip to the edge of the forest almost in silence. Daynen's cheery mood of earlier seemed to have disappeared and he appeared pensive and worried. First Sheppard, then Teyla asked whether he was all right, but both times he smiled and apologised. "I was just thinking about the city."

Once the trees started to thin out, he put a hand over his eyes to block out the sun as he pointed forwards, "Over there. You can see the tops of the tallest buildings of the city."

The others copied the gesture and squinted against the sun as they saw their destination. "Thanks for all your help, Daynen," said Sheppard, "if we come back, I hope we'll see you again."

"So do I," Daynen agreed. He turned to leave, "I would have walked with you to the edge of the city, but I have to return quickly."

"That's okay," Sheppard assured him, "we can find our own way from here."

"Until you return, then," and with that, Daynen disappeared quickly into the forest.

As soon as they were alone, they bean to walk towards the city. It was less than half an hour's walk away, but there was a further half hour between the city and the Stargate. The sun felt hotter than ever, and the sky was completely free of clouds. They walked as quickly as the heat allowed, trying to pass under the shade of the trees whenever they could.

"Well, that was different," said Sheppard as soon as he was sure Daynen would be far enough away not to hear.

McKay nodded, "The leader did seem intent on keeping us there. It made me think that the last place I wanted to be was in that village."

"He was just worried about his people," Teyla said, "living your life in fear of the Wraith is not easy. He was desperate and thought that we could help to find the weapon. Hopefully, we will."

Sheppard looked at McKay, "Think we'll find it?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "Your guess is as good as mine," he said, "but my guess would be no. As I said before, if the weapon existed, and the Wraith knew about it, surely they would destroy it to make sure the descendants of the survivors never worked out how to use it. Even if it is still here, I doubt it would be operational. Years of looting probably left it stripped down and scattered among all the different villages. That is if it existed in the first place. The whole thing could be some story made up to keep the people hopeful."

Teyla nodded sadly, "that is all true, but there if there is still a chance, however small, that it is there, we should try to find it."

"I agree," said Sheppard, "I'll recommend to Weir that we bring a few teams back and search the city."

"If you must," said McKay, "but I think we'll be wasting our time,"

"We've got to try. This could be the thing we're looking for, something to keep us safe from the Wraith. That's what we all want, isn't it?"

"Of course it is," McKay agreed, "it's just this place. Something about it gives me a bad feeling."

Ford grinned, "That'll be the soup we ate. It's given me indigestion too."

McKay treated him to a withering look, then turned back to the direction of the city, and found himself face to face with one of the villagers, a man in his mid twenties with a fierce look on his face. He was holding a bow and arrow, pointed directly at McKay. "Um…" he muttered, turning his head to discover that they were surrounded. Twelve villagers, all armed with bows or daggers were closing in on them. Sheppard's hand went straight to his gun. But paused, holding it, read to draw if the opportunity presented itself. It didn't. Any one of the men looked as though he would be happy to shoot him if he tried anything, and probably shoot the others too. They were outnumbered and surrounded.

From behind them, came Jareil's voice, and they turned around to watch him walk forwards. "Remove your weapons and put them on the ground. If you try to use them, we will shoot you. I'm sorry, Major Sheppard, I offered you the chance to stay of your own will and you refused. We need your help, and you are going to give it to us."

TBC…


	3. Chapter 3

Their prison was a wooden cottage that on the outside bore little difference to Jareil's home. Inside however, the closed shutters and failing light made it difficult to see anything. The only light in the room came from two oil lamps, which sat on the floor near the middle of the room. Apart from the lights, the only furniture in the room was four uncomfortable benches, presumably meant to serve as beds. Each had a blanket neatly folded and placed at the end.

The benches were positioned two at either side of the room, leaving a large space near the door. Ford and Teyla sat on one bench, while Sheppard had another to himself. McKay paced up and down the darkened room, pausing only to bang on the locked door.

"This is ridiculous," he said, trying for the fifth time to open the door. "We were going to come back and look for the weapon. With reinforcements! We would have shared anything we found. There are four of us, the city is huge, how are we going to find it even if it is there?" He tried the door a sixth time, this time pulling and pushing at the handle. The door barely moved under his efforts. It was definitely sturdily built. Sheppard half expected him to climb onto the door cartoon character style, pulling with his hands while pushing with his feet. Instead he gave up the useless attempt to open it and instead hammered on it with his fist. "Let us out!" he yelled, "I know you can hear me! Open the door!"

"McKay," interrupted Sheppard, not too loudly but, but it should have been loud enough to distract the ranting scientist.

McKay either didn't hear him or chose to ignore him, instead hammering on the door with both fists, "At least bring us something to eat!"

"McKay!" Sheppard yelled this time. McKay jumped and turned around. "Rodney, for God's sake shut up! You're really not helping; all you're going to do is piss them off. They haven't hurt us and it doesn't look like they're planning to. We were supposed to be back over an hour ago, Dr Weir has probably already sent someone to look for us. If not, she will soon. I'm not saying this is fun, but none of us are having a great time either and you're just making things worse. Now shut the hell up."

"It's going to take days for a search party to find us. Maybe longer. You know how well hidden this village is, and anyone looking for us is going to go to the city first."

"McKay…" said Sheppard warningly."

"But…"

"Were going to be in the city. That's where they want us to look for the weapon. They will find us. And if we're lucky, maybe the villagers won't already have killed you to shut you up."

McKay opened his mouth to protest, then thought better of it. He paced the room several more times, then finally sat down on the bed nearest to one of the shuttered windows. He took a deep breath, "Sorry," he said, "look, I'm sorry, okay? It's just, have I mentioned I'm claustrophobic?" He looked at the door, as if willing it to open. It stayed firmly closed.

"Yes, you might have mentioned that once or twice," Sheppard told him, "but you're making the room seem smaller with all your pacing and yelling. Just…calm down, okay? Give us all a chance to think."

"You fear small rooms?" asked Teyla incredulously.

McKay nodded, "Enclosed spaces, yes. But I'm not afraid, it just makes me…uncomfortable."

"But there are many rooms in Atlantis smaller than this hut."

Rodney drummed his fingers on his knee, "It doesn't help when I can't get out," he snapped.

Sheppard's voice adopted a less harsh tone, "We'll get out, Rodney. Tomorrow." He had never had claustrophobia, but he recognised the symptoms, the rising panic, the cold sweat, the pumping adrenaline making your body shake because it couldn't run. He could see all of this in McKay. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do to help. The fear reaction would burn itself out eventually. It seemed to already have started.

McKay was still drumming his fingers anxiously on his knee, "You're not really planning on helping these people, are you?"

"We might not have a choice. Besides, we were going to look for the weapon anyway. Might as well get a head start while we wait to be rescued."

McKay looked at him in astonishment, "So you're not planning on, I don't know, escaping?"

"Of course, if we get the opportunity. Not from here though. I don't think any of us could find our way back to the 'gate from here," he turned to the others, "could you?"

"Unlikely," said Teyla, "after seeing the way again, perhaps, but now I do not think so."

"Right," said Sheppard, "so we'll play it by ear. If we get the chance to escape, we'll take it. Until then, we'll play at being good prisoners and hope they let their guard down."

Outside, the rain started to fall. Despite their rustic look, the village cottages kept the water out well. McKay lay back on the uncomfortable bed, resting his head on the palms of his hands, closed his eyes and tried to imagine that he was safely home in his quarters in Atlantis. It didn't work. He sighed, "I can't believe we were outsmarted by a bunch of guys with bows and arrows."

"We weren't outsmarted," Sheppard told him, "we were outgunned."

"Yes, by a bunch of guys with bows and arrows."

Sheppard shrugged and lay down himself. If they were to have any chance of getting away tomorrow, it would help to be well rested. If it was possible to be well rested while locked in a hut on an alien planet with nothing but a hard bench to lie on and McKay snoring nearby. Yes, snoring. Loudly. It was amazing how he had gone from pacing the room shouting and banging on the door to fast asleep in under ten minutes. Enviable, really.

Sheppard rolled up his blanket, placed it under his head and curved the edges around his ears. It muffled the sound a little. Then he closed his eyes and tried to get some sleep.

The sun was still below the horizon when the door opened the next morning. Three villagers walked in, two holding bows, the third with a tray containing four bowls of soup and some water. He set the tray on the floor and backed away. "We will be back soon to take you to the city," he said, "and you can start the search."

The door closed before anyone had chance to answer, leaving them locked inside once again.

McKay groaned as he sat up and rubbed his arm. "That was the most uncomfortable night of my life," he announced, "I didn't sleep a wink. Did anyone else?"

Ford stretched and stood up, "I might have grabbed a few minutes," he said, "when you weren't keeping me up with your snoring."

"Snoring?" McKay looked affronted, "I don't snore. I heard someone snoring last night too, so I'm sure it wasn't me."

"That might have been me," Sheppard said, "but you were definitely snoring too. You were the first one to fall asleep, I know I heard you."

"You might have heard me too," Teyla admitted.

Ford sighed, "So you all snore? I really picked the wrong people to be kidnapped with."

"Not me." McKay was already helping himself to his breakfast, the same soup they had eaten the day before, "Like I said, I don't snore."

A change of subject was probably in order, Sheppard decided as he started to eat. "Try not to antagonise our 'hosts' today," he said. "We want them to think we're willing to help. That way if no one shows up to provide backup, or if they manage to hide us, they might trust us enough to get slack."

"So just do whatever we're told?" asked Ford, not sounding happy with the plan.

"Within reason, yes. But look out for any weaknesses in their strategy that we might be able to exploit."

McKay finished his soup and rummaged in his pocket, pulling out an energy bar. He opened the wrapper, broke the bar in two and ate half. The remaining half, he pushed back inside the wrapper, folded the plastic down and replaced it in his pocket. "Don't look at me like that," he told the others, noticing their curious glances. "I've only got three, I'm rationing myself as it is. If you wanted some, you should have brought your own."

"It's not that," Ford told him, "I was just wondering why you didn't do that last night when you were banging on the door yelling for food."

"Like I said, I'm rationing myself. I don't know how long we're gong to be stuck here. If we're going to have to be ready to run for it at any moment, I need to have a clear head, and unless I've eaten something slightly more nutritious than this disgusting, watery soup, I'm not going to have a clear head."

Ford opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by the door opening again. They all turned to watch as Jareil entered, followed by two guards.

Unlike the day before, when he had tried desperately to charm them into staying, the village leader looked anything but friendly. The guards stood at either side of him, ready to shoot their bows if it was necessary. "Outside." he said.

They were met by two more guards outside the hut. Jareil certainly wasn't taking and chances just yet.

The two guards that had entered the hut with Jareil now joined the others. They stood in a row, each one with his bow loaded and pointing at one of the team. McKay noticed with some dismay that the guard currently aiming a deadly weapon at his chest has Daynen, the boy they had met the previous day.

"You will walk to the city together," Jareil told them, "once there, you will split up, each one of you escorted by one of my guards. You will go where they send you, you will do what they tell you, and you will not try to escape, or you will be shot. Do you understand?"

"We're not going to split up," Sheppard said.

"Jareil looked at him as though he was something unpleasant that he had stepped in, "You will do as you are told," he said.

Sheppard stood his ground. "We agreed among ourselves to do what we're told within reason, but splitting us up is not acceptable. We stay together or we stay here."

Jareil looked at Sheppard, then at the other members of his team, who stood with equally determined looks on their faces. He nodded. "Very well. You will go in groups of two, each group with two guards. Agreed?"

"Agreed," said Sheppard, managing to keep a victorious grin to himself. That had been a lot easier than he had expected. Whatever his reasons for this insane plan, Jareil seemed to genuinely believe that he needed their help, that they could help him find their weapon. That meant that he was unlikely to carry out his threat of killing them. One less thing to worry about at least. "Just so you know," Sheppard added, "we were going to come back and look around the city anyway. With more people. Anything we found, we would have shared. With just four of us it will take forever to search the whole city."

"More of you would not have helped," Jareil told him, "they would only have been in the way." He nodded to the guards, turned and walked in away. One of the guards indicated with his bow that they were to start walking.

This was the fourth time that they had made the journey through the forest and Sheppard was beginning to notice landmarks. The route they had taken had been the same each time. That was definitely a mistake on the part of the villagers, and one that he hoped they wouldn't rectify. Sheppard was hoping that they would be able to escape today, while in the city or on the way, but he knew that they chances were low. The villagers knew the land much better than they did, and the area between the city and the Stargate was mostly flat ground with the occasional tree. It would be difficult to hide. Not only that, but being split up meant that it would be more difficult to escape together, and even given the opportunity, he knew that he wouldn't desert his team, and he was almost certain that the others felt the same way. They would be doing this together or not at all. That only left them two real options; encountering a search party from Atlantis while they were in the city, or escaping from the village.

That was why he was so pleased to be noticing landmarks, if you could call them that. Until he tried to look for differences, one tree looked just the same as any other to Sheppard. Especially on an alien world where there were no species that he recognised. There were differences though, probably many more than he realised. He congratulated himself inwardly as they passed a large, thick-branched tree with an oddly patterned bark and knew that they would soon turn to the left, where the trees would begin to thin out.

The city looked every bit as foreboding as it had the day before. The dust still crunched under their feet and the sense of stillness was still almost overpowering. The change in atmosphere was obvious almost as soon as they entered the built up area. It was not surprising that the villagers feared it.

One of the guards stopped walking and turned to face the others. "You and you," he pointed at Sheppard and Ford, "come with me."

One of the other guards stepped forwards too, leaving McKay, Teyla and two other guards, one of whom was Daynen.

McKay and Teyla watched as their companions were marched away in the direction of the nearest building, a tall, thin tower with at least twenty floors. Once they had seen them enter, that guard who was not Daynen turned to McKay. "Which building?" he asked.

"You're asking me?" said McKay, "Why would I know the best place to look? This is _your_ planet."

"Which building?" said the guard again; his voice tight with suppressed anger and his left hand hovering near the knife that he kept in his belt.

"Perhaps you should choose one," Teyla suggested.

McKay nodded and pointed to a building at random, "How about that one?"

The guard nodded and they crossed the street and walked inside.

Ford drummed his fingers on the floor next to where he was sitting. They had paused for a break and a drink of water after three hours of fruitless searching. There was little difference between each of the rooms. Every one was empty and full of dust. The only real difference was that there was less dust the higher up the building they moved. He didn't know whether it was the lack of dust, or that fewer people had ventured this far into the building, but in the higher rooms they did find some evidence that the city had not always been deserted. Looking at it from the street or the lower rooms, it was almost possible to believe that it had simply been built and then abandoned before anyone moved in. Higher up they found objects. Pieces of wood, scraps of a plastic-like material, even what looked like an old doll, discarded on the floor.

He wondered about the child that had owned the doll. Had she been there when the Wraith had taken her parents? What had happened to her next? Was she one of the many that had died of disease, or had she fled with the survivors into the forest? It was even possible that the guards that watched them as they sat on the floor, leaning against the wall, half way up what had probably been an apartment block, were in some way related to the child that had once lived in that room.

He glanced out of the window and looked at the city. It was vast. It seemed to carry on for miles. It probably did. He wondered how many people had lived here when the Wraith had come. Millions probably. If you didn't look too closely at the destruction, it was almost possible to believe that he was in a city on Earth. He closed his eyes, trying to wipe that thought from his mind. This world had nothing in common with Earth. The Wraith had destroyed this world. That would never happen to Earth. Never.

But even as he thought it, he knew that it was possible. They would do anything they could to keep the Wraith from accessing the Atlantis gate, even destroying the city to prevent it from happening, but there was still a chance that they could still get through. And if they did, this world and Earth would become almost indistinguishable.

His surroundings were getting to him. He tried to stop imagining city after city on Earth being hit by the Wraith. People not understanding what was happening as they were removed from their homes and fed upon by creatures out of a science-fiction movie. And how many other cities were there on this world just like this one?

That thought stopped him in his tracks. His fingers stopped drumming and he almost dropped his water, "Major?"

Sheppard looked at him, "Yeah?"

"This city, you don't think there could be others, do you?"

Sheppard shrugged, "I don't know. On a world as advanced as this one was, probably. Why?"

"Well, isn't it possible that the weapon is somewhere else? If this was Earth, we probably wouldn't have hidden something like that in the middle of a city. And if it is in a city, why this one? If there's more…"

"We could be looking in the wrong place entirely!" Sheppard rolled his head backwards until it made contact with the hard surface of the wall, then looked at the guards. "Did you guys hear that?" he asked, "Your weapon probably isn't even here. We're wasting our time."

"We heard you," said one of the guards, a tall man in his early twenties, with dark skin and thick black hair tied back with a piece of cloth, "you are lying. The weapon is here."

"Not necessarily," Sheppard argued. "There could be any number of cities just like this one on your world. From the looks of the place, I'd say your people used to be quite technologically advanced. News travels fast in that kind of society. If someone invented a weapon that could destroy the Wraith, people could have heard about it on the other side of the world a few hours later. It's been hundreds of years, your people could have easily forgotten the part of the story that said the weapon was somewhere else."

Anger clouded the young man's face, "We have forgotten nothing," he said, "because there was no such thing to forget!"

"Maybe," said Sheppard, "This could have been the only city on the planet, but then again, there could have been hundreds of them. Thousands even."

The guard stood up. His companion joined him. "Back to work!" he said forcefully, and Sheppard sighed as he got to his feet. He wondered whether McKay and Teyla were having any more luck.


	4. Chapter 4

**The Weapon**

Chapter 4

"Which building now?"

McKay sighed, "I'm not known for my psychic abilities, you know."

"Which one?"

"Why are you always asking me? Ask Teyla."

The guard drew his knife and pointed it as McKay, "Which building?" he repeated.

"I don't know… That one."

The guard with the knife took a step closer and McKay stepped back. "We have already been in there," the guard said.

"Oh, right. Sorry." McKay looked around and pointed at another building. The guard nodded and they walked on.

Half way down the street, Teyla appeared at his side, "You are not acting like yourself," she told him.

He shrugged, "Being kidnapped and forced to wander around a deserted city doesn't bring out the best in anyone."

Teyla shook her head, "It is more than that," she said.

McKay sighed and lowered his voice, "I need something to eat," he told her, "all I've had today is that bowl of soup and half an energy bar. My blood sugar is too low. It has this effect on me sometimes."

"You have the other half of your energy bar in your pocket," Teyla reminded him.

McKay nodded, "But I don't want them to see," he explained, nodding at the guards, "I don't think they like me very much, if they see me snacking on the job they might do something bad."

"If you must eat, then eat," Teyla told him. Then she increased her walking speed to catch up with the guards, who were walking several paces ahead.

McKay heard her speak to them. They answered, seeming to have lost all interest in him. When e was sure that they were distracted, he felt inside his pocket for the bar, unfolded the wrapper and gratefully stuffed the food into his mouth. It wasn't much, but it should do until they returned to the village where hopefully they would be fed.

They walked inside the building and followed the now familiar plan. Daynen walked into the first room, followed by McKay and Teyla, the second guard went last. In the first room it took a matter of seconds for them to realise that there was nothing of interest. They all filed out and repeated the pattern in the next room.

This continued until they reached the third floor where, just as they were about to leave the second room, the unnamed guard heard a noise. He suddenly became still and alert, like an animal that hears a predator. "Wait here," he whispered to Daynen, who nodded.

The guard crept out of the room and down the stairs. As soon as he was gone, Daynen turned to his prisoners "I am very sorry," he told them, "I did not mean for this to happen. Are you both alright?"

"Oh yes," McKay told him in a voice dripping with sarcasm, "we love doing this. We live for days like these"

Daynen glanced out of the window and watched his companion walk past on the ground below, checking for search parties from Atlantis. "I am sorry," Daynen repeated, "I will do everything I can to free you."

Teyla and McKay glanced at one another, then Teyla looked back to Daynen, "Then set us free now. Allow us to make contact with our people outside."

Daynen shook his head, "There is no one outside," he grinned, "I found a stone on the ground outside and dropped it out of the window."

"Why?" asked McKay.

"So that I could speak to you. I needed to apologise. To let you know that I did not plan this. I did not lure you back to our village hoping to trap you." He sighed. "I knew that the village elders would ask for your help," he explained, "I even hoped that you would give it, but I did not know that they would do this. They have forgotten that the Chosen must go of their own will. I suspected that this would happen when I was asked to bring our Elder Warrior, and I should have told you of my suspicions. Please understand, our people have lived so long in fear of the Wraith. Finally there was a chance to free ourselves of that fear. We had no choice."

"My people also know what it is like to live in fear of the Wraith," Teyla told him, "but we never resorted to kidnapping."

"Wait a second," interrupted McKay, "the Chosen? What's that? Why are we chosen?"

"Not all of you, Doctor McKay, you. You are chosen."

"Chosen by who? For what?"

"Chosen by the Gods," Daynen told him. "They chose you when they saw fit to place the box where you would see it. That you were able to coax sound and light from the box only showed that the Gods have more faith in you than in others that were chosen before you."

McKay shook his head, "That's ridiculous," he said, "it was just chance that I found it. Any one of us could have picked that thing up and made it squeak. It wasn't even as though it needed the ATA gene. I just pressed the buttons."

"The Gods have chosen you," Daynen told him, "whether you choose to believe it or not. And my father should know better than to treat someone chosen by the Gods in this manner."

"Jareil is your father?" asked Teyla, surprised.

Daynen nodded, "Yes, and I will try to convince him to let…" he broke off suddenly as the second guard appeared in the doorway.

"No one there," he said.

Daynen nodded, "Then we will stop for a while to rest, and then continue the search." He opened up a small bag that he had been carrying on his back, and removed flasks of water. They sat down on the floor and drank thirstily.

Sheppard and Ford, plus armed escort, were just about to enter their fifth building of the day when they heard voices and footsteps. Immediately, both guards were completely alert. The first man, the one with black hair, crept away to see where the search party was while his younger companion stayed with the prisoners, his knife drawn and at Ford's throat. "Make any noise to let them know where you are, and I will kill you," he whispered.

Sheppard nodded wordlessly. For whatever reason, Jareil may want them to help search the city, but this guard was not Jareil, he might well carry out the threat. And even if he had not believed him, Sheppard would never be willing to stake Ford's, or anyone else's life on his opinion. He just didn't think he was that good at reading people.

The first guard arrived back quickly and beckoned to them to follow him. The younger guard released Ford, but kept his knife in his hand, and they crept quietly away. As they went, Ford carefully unfastened the strap of his watch and let it drop to the ground.

They arrived back in the village almost ten hours after they had left, and were immediately locked in their hut. As soon as the door closed, each of them lay or sat on their beds, exhausted. Almost immediately, the door opened again, and a tray was pushed inside, containing soup, bread and water. McKay stood up and limped to the door. "Oh good," he said unhappily, "more soup."

"I thought you told Jareil you liked the soup," said Sheppard.

"I was being polite." He picked up the tray and carried it closer to the centre of the room, "That was before he kidnapped us, locked us up all night and then made us wander for around for hours on some sort of holy quest."

"What do you mean 'holy quest'?"

McKay shook his head, "I'll explain when I've eaten," he said.

Sheppard nodded in agreement. He didn't feel much like conversation just yet either, but then a thought hit him, "Wait a minute, you were being polite? _You_?"

"Very funny." He dunked his bread, ate it and winced, "You didn't actually think I liked this, did you?"

"Well, Zelenka did mention to me that you liked military rations. And hospital food. I just thought you had weird taste."

McKay washed the lingering flavour of the soup away with a mouthful of water, "Apparently I do," he said, "but not this weird."

They finished their foul soup. Drank their water and sat in silence for a while, until Sheppard remembered what McKay had said earlier, "So, what's this holy quest stuff?"

McKay explained what Daynen had told them and how he seemed willing to help them escape. He also mentioned that the boy was Jareil's son, and that he wasn't sure he trusted him. "I've just got a thing about people who tell me I've been chosen by God. They tend to be a little funny in the head."

"That's just what he was brought up to believe, McKay. It doesn't mean he's crazy, just religious. Anyway, that would explain why he seemed so excited about that thing you found."

"Great," muttered McKay, "so this is all my fault."

"If it hadn't been you, one of us would have found it," Sheppard assured him, "What I don't get is why these people built up a religion based around people finding old scraps of technology. How'd that happen?"

"It is far more likely that this aspect of their beliefs was added after the Wraith destroyed their civilisation," Teyla said, "possibly someone decided that anyone that could work the remaining technology could use the weapon."

"But it's definitely not the ATA gene?" asked Sheppard.

"I don't know," McKay admitted, "but I doubt it. In any case, the gene had nothing to do with the device I found, I just pressed the buttons."

"And I couldn't make it work. Okay. Whatever the weapon might be, if it still exists, I for one don't want to spend any more time than I have to being led from building to building trying to find it…"

"They led you around?" asked McKay smugly, "they made me choose where to look."

"They believe that their Gods are guiding you," Teyla reminded him.

"Anyway," said Sheppard, "I don't want to spend any more time than I have to trying to find it. Especially since Ford pointed out that it might not even be in this city. Unless Daynen comes up with something to help us out, we're going to have to escape for ourselves. The best way I can think of to do that is to try to make contact with one of the search parties. We encountered one today, but we were forced to hide. I don't know how long they'll stay in the city. If they leave, they could never find the village, or if they do Jareil could easily lie to them about having seen us. We need to leave some sort of sign to let the search parties know that we are still in the city."

"Sir?" said Ford, "while we were hiding from the search party today, I dropped my watch in the street." He held up a watch-free arm to demonstrate. "I'm not sure, but I think we walked down that same street coming back later, and the watch definitely wasn't there."

"Good thinking. If anyone else gets a similar opportunity tomorrow, take it. We need to let them know that we're still around. Those search parties may be our best chance of getting back in one piece."

At around the same time the next night, they were sitting once again in their hut, now minus three watches and a power bar wrapper, when the door opened a crack and Daynen slipped inside. He closed the door behind him, "I have sent the guard to eat," he said, and handed two knives to Sheppard, "This was all I could manage, I tried to bring your own weapons, but they are well guarded. You must leave tonight. I will leave the door unlocked. Your guard is not my friend. If the Gods are on my side, my father will believe that he forgot to lock the door." He opened the door a crack, peered outside nervously and then closed it again, "Wait several hours," he said, "most people will be asleep and the guard may be tired. Watch out for other guards on the way and please, if you are caught do not let my father know what I did."

"Thank you," said Sheppard. But the boy had already left, closing the door behind him.

Sheppard looked at the knives, then back to his team, "Ready to get out of here?" he asked.

Ford grinned, "Yes sir."

"So we just creep out and leave?" said McKay, "What do we do about the guard?"

Sheppard shrugged, "I was thinking take him with us," he said, "we'll let him go when we reach the Stargate, but if he sees us escaping and we leave him, he's going to sound the alarm."

"Perhaps we can convince him to help us avoid the other guards," Teyla said.

"Maybe," agreed Sheppard, "but I wouldn't trust him"

McKay nodded, "He could lead us right up to them and get us all captured again. And if they do recapture us, we might not get another chance to escape."

"Right," said Sheppard, "here's the plan. The three of you get a few hours sleep, while I stay up to make sure we don't sleep all night. I'll wake you up in about four hours, and we'll move. Be as quiet as you can when you wake up, we don't want to alert the guard. We'll surprise him when we open the door, and take him hostage. We won't hurt him, we just need to make sure he can't alert the rest of the village."

The others nodded.

"Good, then try to get some sleep. We might have a tiring night ahead."

"Major?" said Ford, "I can stay up if you want some sleep."

Sheppard shook his head, "I'll be fine," he assured him.

"Half the night then," Ford said, "wake me after two hours. You're going to need some sleep yourself."

"Really, Ford. I'll be fine. Just get some sleep, make sure you're alert for tonight."

Ford nodded. "Yes sir." But he didn't like it. He lay down closed his eyes, hoping that if he couldn't make himself useful by staying up, he could at least try to get some sleep. And the only way that would happen, would be if he fell asleep before the snorers.

"McKay!" Rodney woke up to his arm being shaken and his name urgently whispered. It was almost completely dark in the hut, the only light filtered in under the bottom of the door and around the edge of the shutters.

"Wha…mmmpf?" A hand covered his mouth, stopping the word before he could complete it. Angrily, he pushed it away and opened his mouth to speak again, before he remembered what was happening, "We're leaving?" he whispered.

He could just about make out the shape of Sheppard nodding and covering his mouth with a finger to indicate silence. McKay nodded.

The others were already awake, apparently he had been the last one to be roused. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, hoping that his head would clear of the sleep-induced fog that he could normally never clear until he had eaten, or at least had coffee. He quietly felt for his pack. The villagers had returned them once they had removed anything that could be used as a weapon. He felt inside and retrieved a chocolate bar. His last bit of food. Maybe next time he went through the Stargate he would pack more, after all you never knew when you would be kidnapped again. He quietly inserted the chocolate into his pocket. He couldn't eat it yet, but maybe once they were on their way he would have chance.

Sheppard signalled for them to get ready. He was standing, back to the wall, next to the door. Ready to open it and surprise the guard. McKay shook his head, not quite sure whether this was real. If he was awake, it was only barely, he was in no way fit to be breaking out of prison, even if the prison only happened to be a hut on the outskirts of a primitive village. It took him at least half an hour to wake up in the morning. What had he been thinking? He should have remembered to ask Sheppard to wake him up earlier. But he had been so exhausted from the day's search that he had barely had the energy listen to the plan, let alone think of something that complicated. When he was tired, it seemed that all his brains meant nothing. He might as well be an ordinary person.

If he had asked Sheppard to wake him earlier, he would have had time to eat and wake up and…wait a minute. Sheppard had stayed up. He hadn't had any sleep at all. And he had had just as tiring a day. He hoped he was better able to cope with sleep deprivation, because…

"McKay!" whispered another voice. Ford. He looked up to see that the door was already open, and Sheppard and Teyla were outside. He hadn't, had he? He hadn't fallen asleep? Oh, that was just great.


	5. Chapter 5

**The Weapon**

Chapter 5

The guard surrendered easily. Sheppard opened the door quickly and stepped outside. The guard, one of the people he recognised from their first arrival in the village two days ago, had no time even to cry out in surprise before Sheppard was standing behind him, hand firmly pressed over his mouth. The knife in his hand was held just far enough away from the guard's throat that he needn't worry about accidentally cutting the man. He had no intention of killing him, only making sure he did not sound the alarm. "We're leaving," he whispered into the guard's ear.

The guard nodded and a whimper forced its way out of his throat. Sheppard tightened his grip on the man's mouth, "We're not going to hurt you," he said, "We just want to get out of here. Do what we say and we'll let you go."

The guard nodded again, and Sheppard loosened his grip, but did not let go. He kept the knife hovering close to the guard's throat. He beckoned with his head to Teyla and Ford, who were standing in the doorway. Teyla removed the guard's bow, arrows and knife while Ford disappeared back inside the cabin to retrieve McKay.

Once they emerged from the hut, McKay looking slightly dazed as though he was still half asleep, Teyla handed the guard's knife to McKay, keeping the bow for herself. Ford had taken the second blade given to them by Daynen.

They walked quietly out of the village. Behind the shutters of the cottages, there was no sign of light or movement. So far so good. Teyla took the lead, followed by Sheppard and the guard, with Ford and McKay taking up the rear. As they stepped out of the village into the forest, everyone allowed themselves a silent sigh of relief, before carrying on through the trees.

The forest looked very different at night. During the day it was dark and cool, a welcome relief from the heat outside, especially after a day searching the city. At night however, the darkness was almost complete, the only light being the occasional shaft of weak moonlight that filtered through the leaves. Despite this, they walked on without light, Teyla managing to lead them safely through the maze of trees seemingly without even stumbling on the branches and fallen wood that was scattered around the floor. The others found it impossible to avoid them and tripped and stumbled far too many times in the darkness.

The further they moved from the village, the more they relaxed, allowing occasional whispered words as they travelled further and further from their captors. Still though, they travelled in darkness. It was difficult, but it was not worth attracting unwanted attention for the sake of a flashlight. They moved quickly, everyone acutely aware that despite their apparent success at escaping the village undetected, it was possible that they had been seen, or that someone had looked out of their window to find the guard not there and gone to investigate. There were any number of things that could have gone wrong with the plan, but all they could do was hope for the best and keep moving. Soon they would be out of the forest and on their way to the Stargate.

Once the trees began to thin out and more moonlight showed through, it became easier to believe that they might actually make it. Less trees meant that they had less cover, but it also meant that anyone from the village trying to recapture them would be easier to see. Sheppard looked around. They were far enough out of the forest now that the trees around them seemed not even to be part of the dark area that they had passed through. There was no sign of anyone around them. If the villagers had noticed that they were gone, they were far enough behind them not to be seen. Or well enough hidden.

Now that they could see the ground more easily and were less likely to trip, they increased their speed. A short distance away, Sheppard spied the towers of the city, but they turned to the left, heading to the Stargate without having to enter the dead area. It was just as well, none of them wanted to see it again as long as they lived. They had spent far too much time there already.

The closer they came to the 'gate, the faster they moved, as though something was physically drawing them closer to it, to safety. To home.

They entered the old farmland, the fields made of weeds and crops and thigh high grass. They waded through eagerly, not wanting to slow down now that they were so close and then, finally, they could see the gate.

Ford jogged forwards to activate the 'gate, passing Sheppard who was still holding the guard's shoulder. Even this close to escape, there was still a chance that something could go wrong, and he didn't want to take any chances.

Then, as though that thought had caused it, something did go wrong. A cry behind them, Sheppard turned and barely had time to duck as an arrow flew past his ear, close enough that he could feel the wind that it caused. "Get down!" he yelled, "They've found us!"

There was nowhere to hide, no shelter from the villagers and their arrows except for through the gate. He thought of their weapons, probably locked away in Jareil's hut and hoped that the villagers hadn't decided to try them out.

Concentrating on avoiding the arrows being fired from behind them, Sheppard barely noticed that the gate had opened. He heard Ford explaining the situation over his radio and Atlantis lowered their shield. Ford and Teyla, closest to the gate, hesitated, waiting for Sheppard and McKay. "Go!" yelled Sheppard, waving in the direction of the gate as he moved forwards, crouched low to avoid the reign of arrows. He watched them step safely through the gate and turned to check McKay's position, just in time to see the scientist hit by an arrow in his left thigh.

McKay cried out in pain as the metal tip of the arrow pierced his leg. He fell to the ground and tried valiantly to climb back to his feet. Unable to stand, he crawled forwards, practically dragging his injured leg behind him.

"McKay!" yelled Sheppard, running back to try to help him. McKay continued crawling forwards. Sheppard reached the other man in a matter of seconds and helped him to his feet. He placed the scientist's left arm around his neck and held it there, holding him up as they moved forwards. The gate was still open. There was still time.

But it was impossible to move quickly enough. He glanced at McKay. The look of determination on his face was incredible, but determination alone wasn't going to get them through the gate. He shifted his gaze back to their target, only to find Jareil and three of his guards blocking their way.

Jareil held up his hand and the others ceased fire. He smiled victoriously.

"Damn it Jareil, let us go!" shouted Sheppard.

Jareil shook his head, "I am sorry, but your friend is far too important to us. You, on the other hand, we do not need. You may return home to your people."

He stepped aside, allowing a clear path between Sheppard and the gate. Sheppard shook his head, "No, not without McKay."

McKay shifted as though he was trying to get away, but Sheppard held on to him, refusing to let him fall to the ground, "Go," McKay whispered, struggling to remain lucid when the pain in his leg left him fighting the urge to pass out.

"No, we leave together or not at all,"

A hint of a grateful smile passed over McKay's face and he nodded, then lost consciousness.


	6. Chapter 6

**The Weapon**

Chapter 6

"Where are they?" Elizabeth Weir stood, waiting. The Stargate was open and Teyla and Ford had come through safely, followed by a rain of arrows, and then nothing. That had been three minutes ago. Not a long time in the grand scheme of things, maybe. But when you had already been waiting for two days, every extra minute seemed like an eternity. Especially now, knowing that whatever was happening at the other side of the gate, Sheppard and McKay were under fire and in danger. "If they're not coming through, then why hasn't the gate shut down?" she asked.

That was the kind of question that would usually be answered by McKay. Not this time though. McKay was on the other side of the gate. She just hoped that someone else would have an answer. "Whoever is on the other side must be holding it open somehow," answered Grodin. "Maybe they placed something part way inside the event horizon. That would stop it closing until the object is fully inside."

"Or until thirty eight minutes is up," added Weir, remembering. She stared intently at the open wormhole, "Is there any way we can shut it down?"

Grodin shook his head, "Not from this side, no. And even if we could find a way, it would cut in half whatever is holding the wormhole open. What if it's Major Sheppard or Dr. McKay?"

"Damn it. Okay, forget that idea." She tapped her foot impatiently, "So what can we do, just wait until the gate closes, then re-dial? It could be too late by then."

Grodin shrugged, looking helpless.

"Dr Weir, we've got to get back there!"

She turned around to come face to face with Ford, behind him stood Teyla, followed by a very agitated looking Dr Beckett. "Lieutenant Ford, Teyla. It's good to have you back. Believe me, I want to get Major Sheppard and Dr McKay back as much as you do, but until the gate closes, we can't open it again to go the other way." She sighed, frustrated, "I need to know everything that happened, where were you? Are the planet's inhabitants likely to hurt them?"

Beckett cleared his throat, "While I know you need to have this conversation, Dr. Weir, is there a chance you could have it in the infirmary? I need to make sure they're alright."

Weir nodded and looked to Grodin, "I want to know the instant the gate closes," she said. He nodded, and she followed Beckett and his two patients out of the room.

McKay drifted to consciousness slowly. He was laying on a hard surface, covered by a blanket. Something had been pushed under his head to serve as a pillow and his leg hurt. Really hurt. He shifted his position slightly and bit his bottom lip to stop a cry of pain escaping from his mouth. He wanted to go back to sleep, there had been no pain then, only the blissful lack of awareness that comes with unconsciousness. But it was impossible. With each beat of his heart, the pain seemed to intensify, he could think of nothing else. Especially sleep. Reluctantly, he forced his eyes open.

The first thing he saw was Major Sheppard. He was sitting close by, on the floor, leaning against a wall. "Major," he tried to say, but his throat was dry and the word came out like a croak.

Still, it had the desired effect. Sheppard turned to look at him, he looked relieved. "I thought you were going to sleep forever. How's the leg?"

He stood up, carrying a wooden beaker of water and handed it to McKay, who took it with shaking hands and drank gratefully. "It hurts," he said, when he trusted his voice to make the right sounds.

Sheppard nodded, "Arrows'll do that. I don't think they have anaesthetic, and it went in pretty deep. They've bandaged you up though, and smeared some kind of green sludge all over the wound. Apparently it stops infection." McKay nodded. The description didn't sound very pleasant, but at least he probably wasn't going to lose his leg. "Still," Sheppard continued, "I'll feel better when we're back and Beckett can have a look at it."

"Me too." He looked around the room. It wasn't the hut where they had been kept during their enforced stay in the village. "Where are we? What happened after I…you know?"

"Passed out? They dragged you back to the city. We're three storeys up, so we can't go out the window, and there's a guard at the door. I guess they thought Ford and Teyla would lead the others straight back to the village."

"I thought they were scared of the city."

Sheppard shrugged and turned around to pick up his water, as he did McKay caught a glimpse of the other side of his face. He gasped. "What happened?"

Sheppard touched his bruised eye and winced, "They weren't too happy with us for trying to leave," he said.

"You should have gone through the Stargate," McKay told him, "They won't hurt me. Well, no more than they did already. They think they need me."

Sheppard smiled, "I couldn't have left you. I'd never have heard the last of it when you got back."

"So what now?"

"We wait. Before we left the 'gate, the villagers pushed a tree branch half way inside. They must have known no one could come through and get us while it was open the other. But that was a while ago now. Most likely the team went to the village first, but they're probably on their way here by now. Even if the people don't tell them where we are, they'll guess. There aren't that other many places to hide."

"Yes, but in the city there are thousands of places. We could be in any room in any building. By the time they find the right place, we'll already have been moved. It could be months before they find us."

"That's what I like about you, McKay. Your unwavering optimism."

"I'm a realist." McKay told him, "But if you want good news, the agony from my leg wound means it will be more difficult for the villagers to move us. I'm certainly not capable of walking by myself, or moving quickly."

"Great," said Sheppard, forcing a smile, "so as long as you're in pain, things are looking up. Let me know if it starts to fade, I can always help you out."

"Very funny, but I'm more than capable of faking pain, Major."

Sheppard smiled, genuinely this time, "Why doesn't that surprise me?"

McKay scowled.


	7. Chapter 7

_Sorry for the delay! Thanks for all the reviews I've got to far. I really apreciate them, keep them coming!_

_Jamie: Good point, but I didn't think of that! It's a bit late to add it now, so lets just say the life signs detector doesn't work on this planet. For some reason! _

**The Weapon**

**Chapter 7 **_  
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The team that stepped through the gate was made up of Ford, Teyla and eight military people, none of whom Ford of Teyla knew well, but all of whom had volunteered for the mission.

The area around the Stargate was empty, there was no sign of the events of less than an hour ago. The men from the village had all left, although it was possible that they were hiding in the forest, watching. Even the arrows that had been fired at them had been moved. Probably it was easier to collect them than make new. The only sign that anyone had been there recently was three broken arrows and tracks in the field.

The tracks showed where people had walked. The majority, the widest line of squashed plants, came from the direction of the forest that they had passed through on their way from the village. This was the way that they had half walked, half ran, trying to make it through the Stargate before they were recaptured. It was also the way that the villagers had come when they followed them. Teyla looked at the tracks. The sun was just beginning to rise and they were now much more visible than they had been in the darkness. The amount of light made her think back to the time that they had first stepped though this gate, with no idea of what was to come.

There were also tracks leading in the direction of the city. Teyla looked at them and frowned. There were many more indentations in the crops in the direction of the village than the city, and it was possible that the few that did not go to the forest were made when they had first arrived. But it seemed to her that the trail of crushed crops was too wide to have been made by just the four of them. It looked as though more people had passed that way recently.

She pointed this out to Ford, who sighed. "Do you think Sheppard and McKay were taken to the city?"

Teyla nodded, "It is probable," she said, "It is the morning, perhaps the villagers wish to use them to search the city once more. Or perhaps they believed that they could better hide them there. They must have known that we would return."

Ford looked at the tracks, every second they wasted was a second that Sheppard and McKay could be moved further away. The villagers already had a thirty-eight minute head start; they didn't need to give them any more.

He switched on his radio, "Major? Are you there?" There was no response. He hadn't expected one really, but it had been worth a try. After all, the villagers had given them back their radios before. Now though, it looked like they had realised what they were for.

"They may have made extra tracks in order to fool us." Teyla said.

Ford swore. "Okay Teyla, which do you think is most likely, the village or the city?"

The looked at the tracks again, "The city," she said, smiling. She walked several steps along the trail in the crops and knelt down, "Dr McKay left us a clue," she said as she picked up an unopened chocolate bar and showed it too them.

It had been almost half an hour, and McKay was tired of sitting on the floor. Unfortunately, even trying to adjust his position was painful, so standing up was out of the question. Staying still wasn't really working for him though. The hard floor was making parts of him go numb. On top of everything else, he was bored.

This was the first opportunity he had had to be bored during the last few days. He had gone from searching the city, to too tired to think, to asleep, to searching the city again. He knew he should be grateful for the chance to relax. But that was the thing. He couldn't relax. Not while he was still being held prisoner. And so he lay on the floor, trying not to move, or even tense the muscles in his injured leg, wishing he had managed to get through the Stargate. If he had, neither he nor Sheppard would be here. It was his fault. It was his fault that they had been kidnapped in the first place, and it was his fault that the two of them were still there. To do it once was forgivable, he wasn't sure about twice.

Thoroughly fed up, he turned his mind to ideas for attracting the attention of Ford, Teyla and whoever else they brought with them to find them. He could think of nothing. Every idea he came up with depended on the guard not noticing, and as he was standing in the doorway, watching their every move, that would be difficult. They couldn't even discuss ideas. Not that Major Sheppard was likely to have thought of anything better than he had, but you never knew.

All this worrying was making him hungry.

He reached into his pocket, taking care to neither move his leg or draw attention to himself from the guard, and felt around for his chocolate bar. It wasn't there. "Did you take my chocolate?" he asked.

Sheppard turned around from the window where he had been standing, "What? No. Of course not."

He checked again, it definitely wasn't there. "It's gone. I put it in my pocket as we were leaving and it isn't there any more. And the pocket is open." He stared accusingly at the guard, who was now watching them with interest.

"He didn't take it either," Sheppard told him, "I was there the whole time you were unconscious. No one took anything out of your pocket. Maybe it fell out while they were carrying you."

"Oh great. So it's just lying out there in the middle of a field! I was looking forward to that."

Sheppard turned back to the window to hide a smile, "You get cranky when you're hungry, don't you?"

"Well, as a matter of fact…"

"Hey," Sheppard called to the guard, "got any food? We missed breakfast."

The guard shook his head, "We were more concerned with recapturing you than feeding you," he told them.

Sheppard nodded, "Yeah, about that. What was the point? Now the others got away, they'll come back and find us. Wouldn't it be easier to just let us go?"

The guard glanced out of the door into the rest of the building, then stepped further inside. "I know what Daynen did," he said, dropping the level of his voice to barely audible, "it was foolish, but understandable. He does not believe in the weapon of our forefathers. In truth, neither do I. But you must understand, Jareil had no choice but to take you prisoner, and he has no choice but to keep you here now."

"No, we don't understand," Sheppard told him, remembering at the last second to speak quietly. "Keeping us here will only make more trouble for yourselves. When our people come, and they will, they're going to take us back. And some of you might get hurt in the process."

The guard shook his head, "That does not matter. The idea of the weapon still gives us hope that one day we will be free of the Wraith. If Jareil simply let you walk away, he would publicly turn his back on our oldest beliefs. He would appear weak."

"You're kidding!" said McKay, "You mean Jareil did all this just to save face? He didn't even believe there was a weapon?"

"In our hearts, we know there is no weapon," the guard explained, "and that is why I will not tell Jareil what Daynen did. But make no mistake, Jareil is my leader and in order to keep you here I will gladly fight to the death." With that, he returned to his post outside the room.


	8. Chapter 8

_Thanks for the reviews everyone! _

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**The Weapon**

_Chapter 8_

The city looked huge. It was huge, but the fact that they may have to search every inch of it made it look all the bigger. Even to Ford and Teyla, who had already spend time exploring and searching, it seemed an almost impossible task. One that seemed all the more difficult now it was not the weapon but their team mates they were trying to find. A weapon could wait for years, just sitting in a room alone. Sheppard and McKay could not. Not only that, but if the villagers wanted to keep them, they would be doing everything in their power to hide them. And that included moving from building to building. This was going to be difficult.

They had split into groups of two and headed out in different directions, keeping in contact by radio and looking out for any sign that someone had been there recently. So far, after an hour, they had found nothing. No one was surprised by this, but everyone was disappointed.

They had decided before they began the search, that if no one had found anything after two hours, someone would return to the gate and request more people to search. The original number would have been enough if they had had to return to the village and retrieve Sheppard and McKay, but for searching an area as vast and easy to hide in as the city, they needed more.

Ford was just considering sending someone back sooner, when Teyla's voice came over the radio, "We have seen one of the villagers. He is heading into a building on the outskirts of the city. We're in pursuit."

"No, wait," Ford told her, "stay where you are, wait for backup. Where are you?"

There was a pause at the other end of the radio as Teyla tried to explain her position. "It is a building near the tall domed building we saw from outside the city," she said eventually.

Ford smiled, he knew exactly where that was. He and Sheppard had searched it on their first day, "I'll be there in five minutes. Watch out for anyone else entering or leaving the building. Everyone else, head to the domed building." He and Mitchell, the man in his search team, headed off at a fast jogging speed to the domed building. Ford, who had a better idea of the direction, took the lead.

They arrived in just over three minutes, and found Teyla and three men standing at the side of the domed building. Another team had arrived before him. They were stood, backs against the wall, waiting for the others.

"Which building?" Ford asked.

Teyla pointed to an ugly square building. "As soon as the first man entered, another left. They are patrolling the area, no doubt looking for us."

"Then we should move. Before they see one of the other teams and know we're coming." He radioed to the others to approach carefully and avoid the guard, describing the building and telling them to wait nearby in case they needed backup. That done, the six of then ran quickly and as quietly as possible across the street and around the corner to the building.

There was no shout of angry villagers from the building, and no rain of arrows from the windows. Either there were very few men there, or they had concentrated their efforts on guarding their prisoners. Either way, they made it safely into the building.

Ford entered first, rapidly followed by the others. He stood, gun at the ready waiting for his eyes to adjust to the different light level in the windowless corridor in which he now found himself. standing. He blinked in the half-light and became immediately aware of a man, little more than a boy really, perhaps seventeen years old. He was dressed in the same roughly woven garments of the other villagers, but in his hands, looking completely out of place, was a P-90.

Ford immediately pointed his gun at the boy, who was holding the weapon uncertainly, his hands shaking from the shock of suddenly finding himself confronted by these six people. If his people had decided to give him the P-90 to use, they must have tested it and therefore knew how dangerous it could be. Having six of the weapons pointed at him clearly terrified the boy.

Visibly trembling, he knelt down and placed the gun on the floor, then held his hands up to indicate that he had no more weapons. Ford picked up the gun, keeping his own firmly pointed at the boy, "Where are they?" he asked.

"Please, don't kill me," said the boy, his voice trembling almost as much as his hands as he looked nervously at the group from their deadly weapons to their angry faces.

"Tell us where they are." Ford told him

The boy made a sound somewhere between a word and a cry of fear. Teyla lowered her gun and stepped forward. "We won't hurt you," she promised, "just tell us where our friends are, and we will take them and leave."

A shaking hand moved to point in the direction of the stairs, "Up and then up again," he said.

"How many people are guarding them?"

"I don't know. Three. Or four."

Ford signalled to the others to lower their weapons. "Stay with him," he said to one of the group, "make sure he doesn't get a signal to the people outside."

The remaining five walked slowly up the stairs, Ford again taking the lead.

"Did you hear that?" Sheppard turned around from the window where he had been standing, suddenly alert. His hand slid automatically to his side where his gun would usually be and he frowned as he remembered that it was gone.

"My stomach?" asked McKay, "It's been making some strange noises for the last…"

"Shhhh!" Sheppard put a finger to his lips and moved closer to the door to listen, "Voices," he whispered.

"Who is it?" asked McKay, straining to hear from his position further away from the door.

Without warning, the guard who had been slouching against the wall just outside the door suddenly snapped to alertness and loaded an arrow into his bow. For a second, Sheppard thought he and McKay were his targets and took half a step backwards, but instead, he aimed down the corridor and moved forwards out of sight.

Taken aback by his sudden departure, Sheppard hesitated for a moment then rushed forwards, "The guard's gone!" he said, still whispering, "Stay here."

McKay opened his mouth to tell Sheppard that he was actually planning on jumping out of the window and landing on his wounded leg, but he had already left. Instead he struggled to his feet and gingerly put a little weight on his left leg.

The pain shot up and down his leg, stopping him after he barely placed his foot on the ground. Even straightening the knee was agony. As he lifted his foot from the ground, the pain ceased slightly, but moving the leg seemed to have started the pain all over again. He was sure that it hadn't hurt this much when the arrow first hit him.

Keeping one hand on the wall for balance, he hopped forward, feeling ridiculous but having no other choice if he wanted to know what was going on outside. If he had known how much it would hurt, he would have stayed on the floor and shuffled himself forwards without having to use the leg at all, but it was too late for that. He was up now and sitting down would probably be more painful than staying standing. He looked at the door. It was less than ten feet away, but the pain made moving even that short distance seem like an impossible task. Screwing up his face in concentration, he tried to ignore the throbbing in his leg and hopped forwards again.

It occurred to him that he wasn't sure that he wanted to know what was going on outside the door. It could be something bad, and in his current state, it would be difficult to get away again, but curiosity and now concern for Sheppard kept him moving.

Sheppard looked out of the room carefully, not knowing that he would find on the other side of the wall. True, he had heard voices and the guard had disappeared from sight, and that most likely meant that he was trying to prevent his prisoners from being reclaimed, but there were other possible explanations.

He looked out of the door and pulled his head back inside a split second later, waiting until he was safe from sight and weapons fire to allow his brain to process what he had seen. He saw the guard's back. The man was standing with his bow drawn, arm tense and waiting to fire, facing a group from Atlantis including Ford, Teyla and a handful of others whose identities he had no time to recognise before ducking back inside the room. They were being rescued. He had no idea how they had been found, but for that moment that was unimportant. He had to let them know that he and McKay were alive and relatively unharmed.

He stepped out of the room, hands on view in case anyone failed to notice who he was and perceived the new arrival as a threat. As soon as he was visible, Ford glanced up, aiming his gun as he did. Realising that it was Sheppard, he grinned and aimed back at the lone guard. Three other villagers had already surrendered and were standing to the right of the rescue team, held at gun point by a man called Mitchell.

Sheppard cleared his throat, "What kept you?" he asked.

The guard stiffened visibly, but didn't turn around. He knew that he had lost, but turning around, taking his sight off the armed intruders for even a second and he might as well surrender.

"Are you alright, sir?" asked Ford, keeping his eyes on the guard.

"Not too bad. McKay got shot in the leg, but I think he'll be okay." He looked at the guard, he was outnumbered five to one, but was still standing his ground.

"Put down the bow and step out of the way and you won't be hurt," Ford said.

The guard shook his head, "You will not hurt me. If you planned to fire, you would have done so already."

"If you don't get out of the way…"

But the guard had already begun to move. He moved so quickly that by the time anyone had registered the movement, it was already too late. The bow was dropped onto the floor, the arrow falling uselessly next to it. In the same fluid movement, he pulled a knife from his belt, grabbed hold of Sheppard and held the blade to his throat. "Leave, or he dies," said the guard. "I mean it. He is not important to us."

Ford hesitated. It would not be difficult to shoot the guard, but he might have chance to cut Sheppard's throat before he was hit.

Sheppard grabbed the man's arm with one hand, slamming his other elbow into his face. The guard was knocked backwards, but Sheppard's grip on his knife hand prevented the blade from slicing his throat. Knocked off-balance, the guard staggered, and Sheppard turned around, elbowing him in the face again as he did. He finished off with a kick to the stomach that sent the guard falling backwards. He hit the floor hard and sat, leaning against the wall, looking dazed. The knife fell to the ground with a thud and Sheppard kicked it out of the guard's reach. "That's to make up for this," he said, pointing to his bruised face.

At that moment, McKay appeared at the door of the room where they had been kept, "I don't suppose you want to shoot him in the leg for me, do you?" he asked.

The guard's eyes widened in fear, "That wasn't me!" he said.

"Relax," Sheppard told him, "no one's going to shoot you." He looked back to McKay, "I thought you were too hurt to walk."

"I am!" said McKay immediately. He was still leaning heavily on the wall, the toes of his left foot barely making contact with the ground. He looked from person to person expectantly, "Isn't anyone going to help me? Or do you want me to hop back to the gate?"

Sheppard sighed and moved back to the door, McKay leaned on him gratefully. Ford took the other side and he half hopped and was half carried down the stairs and out of the building.


	9. Chapter 9

_Sorry it's been so long. Over three months since I last updated! I'm a bad writer! I hate it when people stop updating, too! Well, sorry for the ridiculously long wait, and if anyone is still interested, here is the final part._

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The Weapon**

_Part 9_

Outside, the were met by the other two teams, who had arrived after the others had entered the building. They were accompanied by five other villagers, including Daynen and Jariel. One of the men nodded to Sheppard, "Good to have you back, sir.," he said, "We found these ones outside the building." He nodded to the villagers.

"You cannot leave," said Jareil, "please understand, our survival rests on you, Doctor McKay!"

"That's a shame," retorted McKay, "because we're leaving. Thanks for your hospitality though."

"No!" Jareil pulled a long knife from his belt and aimed at McKay. He flipped his hand back, ready to throw it, but Daynen launched himself forwards, knocking into his father and sending him staggering forwards. His aim lost, the knife flew several feet through the air and dropped harmlessly to the ground.

"There is no weapon," Daynen said firmly, staring his father in the eye. "You try to give us hope by promising that we will find it, but we know the truth, and you know it too. Keeping this man here will change nothing."

"The Gods chose him to find the weapon!" Jariel was shouting now, looking one by one at the faces of the other villagers, "He will find it and free us of the Wraith."

" 'The Gods will place a sign at the feet of those who are worthy. The Chosen will bring hope to the people.' " said Daynen, quoting some religious text, "Nowhere does it say the Chosen will find the weapon, only that they will bring us hope. McKay has done that, and so he has fulfilled his obligation to us."

McKay glanced at Sheppard and Ford, who both shrugged and watched the exchange.

"Stop them!" Jareil ordered the assorted villagers, who looked around uncomfortably, each waiting to see what the others would do first. They wanted to believe that the strangers would find the weapon, but they had very powerful weapons, and Daynen made a good point.

"Father, we have lost," Daynen told him, "even if we tried to keep them here, we would fail. If the weapon is here, we will find it one day. It has been so long since the Gods saw fit to choose someone. We had begun to give up hope, but now we know that they are still there. That they still watch over us. As long as we know this, we know that one day we will be free."

McKay snorted to himself at the idea that their fate was being decided on the basis of a religion, but was silenced by a sharp look from Sheppard.

Jareil breathed in and then out slowly, thinking, "Very well," he said eventually, "you may leave. But from now on, you are not welcome here. You may have powerful weapons, but if you return, we will do everything in our power to stop you from finding our weapon. It belongs to us, and when the Gods decide we are ready, we will find it."

"Well," said McKay, "I don't know about anyone else, but that's completely fine with me. So, can we be getting back before I die of starvation?"

McKay was sitting on a bed in the infirmary, feeling okay for the first time in days. His leg still hurt, but at least he had access to painkillers, and Dr Beckett had told him that the green sludge used by the villagers had done its job well. The wound had healed faster than he would have expected. He had even asked about the possibility of returning to the planet to ask how it was made, but Sheppard had told him he doubted it would be possible.

McKay scowled at the crutches that were leaning against the side of the bed. He would need to use them for at least a week, meaning not only that he couldn't go off world, but also that it would be obvious to everyone that he was the one that got injured. Again. It was a real talent of his, he reflected gloomily.

"So, feeling better?"

He looked up to find that John Sheppard had appeared next to him. With him were Ford and Teyla. McKay shrugged unenthusiastically.

"Something bothering you?"

"Apart from the arrow wound in my leg, you mean?" McKay sighed, "No, I was just wondering why it's always _me_ that ends up injured. Isn't it someone else's turn yet?"

"It just feels like it's always you," Ford assured him, "we've all had our fair share of trips to the infirmary. Trust me. Anyway, we've got something that'll make you feel better."

McKay looked up, curious. Teyla withdrew a chocolate bar from her pocket.

"A chocolate bar?" asked McKay, not sure whether to be pleased or disappointed, "Thanks."

"The chocolate bar that you left on the planet as a clue as to your location," Teyla told him.

"Oh." He glanced at Sheppard, who grinned and shrugged. Well, if Sheppard wasn't going to tell them, there was no reason he should. He took the bar from Teyla, "Thanks," he said, more sincerely this time.

"We'll leave you to rest," Ford told him, and he and Teyla left.

Sheppard stayed behind for a moment, "Sure you're okay?" he asked.

McKay nodded, "As long as you don't decide I'm too much of a liability to have on the team," he said, "I don't care what Ford says, it _is_ always me that gets injured."

Sheppard considered listing as many of his own and the rest of the team's injuries, but realised that McKay probably knew them as well as he did. The scientist just wanted to wallow in self pity. Sheppard decided to allow it. For now. "I think we can put up with you," he told him, "you're a hero, remember? If you'd remembered to fasten your pocket and hadn't lost your chocolate, we might still be being held on the planet."

McKay felt his face heat up and was sure he was blushing, "Are you going to tell them?"

Sheppard shook his head, "Your secret's safe with me," he assured him.

"Good," said McKay, "because actually, losing the chocolate wasn't entirely unintentional. I..."

"Save it," Sheppard told him with a grin.

McKay shrugged and snapped the chocolate bar in half still inside the wrapper, then ripped the wrapper open and held put one of the halves to Sheppard.

"No, I know how protective you are of your food,"

McKay shrugged, "Consider it a bribe,"

Sheppard took the chocolate, "Happy now?"

McKay nodded, "As happy as you can expect with a hole in my leg," he said, "but next time it's someone else's turn to get injured." He laid down and once again threw an unhappy look at the crutches that were waiting for him as soon as he was ready to move.

"We'll see," Sheppard told him, and got up to leave McKay to rest.

_The end  
_


End file.
